Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Cowpens. I thought some type of commemoration might be in order, so I went poking around online and found this video. Some of the officers are a little shorter than average, but it’s more accurate than The Patriot.

I’m not sure where this school district is located, but they’re pulling out all the stops to get kids into the Revolution. Good for them.

Some of you are no doubt horrified and outraged, and are primed and ready to inform us that this activity is not educational at all, that it fosters a sanitized view of combat and may in fact create a generation of callous warmongers. Well, if you absolutely must, then you have my permission to click the comments link under this post’s title and moralize until you’re blue in the face. Perhaps this sample from a Concerned Parent™ will give you some ideas to get started. Keep in mind, however, that since we don’t know what additional context the teachers provided in the classroom and in other assignments, it’s just a wee bit presumptuous to assume that the only thing these kids took away from this was a notion that war is a barrel of laughs. Okay?

2 responses to “The Battle of Cowpens, as presented by fifth graders”

I hadn’t heard of schools doing anything like this before (they certainly don’t in my part of the Midwest), and I found it quite interesting. Thanks for sharing. I think there is a lot to be said for using reliving history as a teaching tool.